Steve Rachmad – Light And Time on Dekmantel

“Light And Time” shows Steve Rachmad in fine form on Dekmantel: 15 tracks of undeniable, floor-ready bass / club. Spanning 100–155 BPM across its 15 tracks, this release gives DJs flexible tempo options for different set moments.

Light And Time by Steve Rachmad

Behind the Bass / Club : Release Notes

Making a bold change of direction as he toasts 45 years working in electronic music, Steve Rachmad dials up the symphonic dimension of his musical practice for Light and Time a widescreen trip to techno’s outer reaches. As one of the true originators of Dutch dance music, Rachmad brings a wealth of experience to his first album for Dekmantel even as he adopts new production methods to create his most ambient body of work to date. A strong melodic sensibility runs through all of Rachmad’s work. His 1995 album The Secret Life Of Machines under his Sterac alias remains a landmark of lush, emotionally charged, deep-diving techno, while classic workouts like ‘Helix’ and ‘Gnosis’ (as Parallel 9) foregrounded powerful synth lines. Up until the upheaval of COVID, Rachmad’s studio practice had been squarely focused on synths and drum machines, but when (along with the rest of the world) he was stuck at home reevaluating his situation, he found himself exploring the world of film scoring. Experimenting with Native Instruments’ sampling software Kontakt, Rachmad taught himself how to arrange and layer orchestral instrumentation. Having rarely used sampling in his music before, the distinct fluctuations of recorded orchestral players opened up a new dimension that has become the foundation of Light and Time, the first of many albums Rachmad has ready to go in a more downtempo, home-listening vein. Throughout Light and Time, harmonious passages take centre stage as Rachmad audibly stretches out. At times the orchestral samples arrive in a pure, organic form, while elsewhere they merge and mutate into synthesised elements. His techno legacy manifests throughout, in abstract form. In lieu of strident beats, we’re offered fractal, scratchy rhythms guiding uniquely shaped noise and natural sounding percussion with a human lilt. These fluctuations are no accident they’re a result of Rachmad playing much more of the album by hand after years in thrall to the precise machine pulse of arpeggios and sequences. The album never feels restricted by one dogmatic approach. At times, Rachmad’s embrace of moody soundtrack composition fills the whole picture, as on haunting string piece ‘The Field Of Reality’. Elsewhere he dips into low-slung electro soul for ‘Invisible Warriors Of Light’ while ‘Cosmic Memories’ revels in alien synthesis with a dramatic bite. ‘Encrypted Instructions’ tweaks and processes string samples through angular prisms to close the album out with an experimental flourish. Rachmad’s long and winding history in electronic music naturally folds into these new modes of expression, and the end result is a sumptuous, many-sided album that showcases the hidden depths of a techno legend’s musicality.

Download ‘Light And Time’ in MP3, FLAC, and AIFF Formats

Tracklist – 100–155 BPM

1. Steve Rachmad – Reality Programmers Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 125 BPM | C Minor | 4:31

2. Steve Rachmad – Quantum Infiltrators Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 122 BPM | E Minor | 5:42

3. Steve Rachmad – Silent Revolution Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 124 BPM | B Minor | 5:32

4. Steve Rachmad – The Field Of Reality Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 131 BPM | E Major | 3:58

5. Steve Rachmad – Intention And Consistency Original Mix

   Electronica | 122 BPM | E Minor | 4:48

6. Steve Rachmad – Divine Blueprints Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 122 BPM | G Major | 4:35

7. Steve Rachmad – The Final Mission Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 122 BPM | C Minor | 4:02

8. Steve Rachmad – Invisible Warriors Of Light Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 100 BPM | E Minor | 4:00

9. Steve Rachmad – Wok And Pumpkin Original Mix

   Ambient / Experimental | 138 BPM | D Minor | 6:12

10. Steve Rachmad – Star Origins Original Mix

    Ambient / Experimental | 120 BPM | C Minor | 3:42

11. Steve Rachmad – Redhead Original Mix

    Ambient / Experimental | 114 BPM | B Major | 4:35

12. Steve Rachmad – Cosmic Memories Original Mix

    Ambient / Experimental | 122 BPM | F Major | 4:54

13. Steve Rachmad – Multidimensional Bridge Original Mix

    Ambient / Experimental | 111 BPM | G Major | 4:08

14. Steve Rachmad – Shadow Work Original Mix

    Ambient / Experimental | 128 BPM | F Minor | 4:38

15. Steve Rachmad – Encrypted Instructions Original Mix

    Ambient / Experimental | 155 BPM | F Minor | 5:34

Featuring Steve Rachmad on Dekmantel

Steve Rachmad 🇳🇱 · 16 releases

Steve Jerome Rachmad is a Dutch techno producer and DJ from Amsterdam who has been active since the mid-1980s and also records under aliases including Sterac, Scorp, and Ignacio. His driving and hypnotic techno appears on labels including Kanzleramt, Life And Death, and STOOR, spanning peak-time and raw deep styles.

Techno (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)Techno (Peak Time / Driving)Tech House